Fast Forward using AI and FOSS

I couldn't understand a for loop in C. I gave up on programming entirely and decided to do everything except write code. Years later, I'm building a learning platform, shipping features using AI-assisted coding, all without a dev career path.

This talk is for the confused ones, the worried ones, and the ones wondering if tech is even for them.

I'll show how AI tools (Claude Code, Ollama, Perplexity, Deepseek) are changing what a solo builder can learn and develop and where they completely fall apart.

The talk ends with a live pull request to fossunited/fossunited, a merch integration for the IndiaFOSS ticket page, built and submitted right on stage. It might break too.

You'll walk out knowing: how to use open source contributions as a career engine, how AI actually fits into a real dev workflow today, and one concrete thing you can do tonight to start.